By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-28 23:36:54 | Updated at 2026-09-29 00:31:59
1 hour ago
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) listens during a Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs about Belarus on Capitol Hill, Dec. 5, 2023. AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
Incumbent Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.), a swing-district lawmaker who took a four-month absence from Congress while he said he was being treated for depression, squared off in a debate with Democrat Rebecca Bennett on Sunday, defending his support of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the war with Iran.
Kean’s Sunday night debate with Bennett is his first and only scheduled debate with his rival, who leads in the only poll taken of the race by 5 percent.
Bennett, a Navy veteran who later worked as a healthcare executive, is a political newcomer. She won a competitive primary for the nomination in June, following a campaign that was seen as more moderate and electable in the purple district.
The race has drawn national attention due to the district’s known swing tendencies, having elected a different party to the seat in several past elections. The wealthy 7th Congressional District is home to Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
Kean won the seat in 2022 by unseating former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), who had defeated Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) in 2018.
Hanging over Kean’s campaign is his long absence from Congress, which led him to miss more than 100 votes prior to his return in June. Kean won reelection in 2024 by around 5 points and has defended his continued support for some of Trump’s most divisive policies, including the Iran war.
According to a CNN poll, only 29 percent of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of foreign policy, while roughly 60 percent of Republicans do.
Kean, meanwhile, has voted against resolutions from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and others to end the conflict—a vote he defended during the debate as Bennett called for an end to the military campaign.
“I think when you look at what Iran’s terrorist leadership says—they say death to America. They have as their goal a nuclear weapon,” Kean said, citing administration justifications for the conflict.
The war has led to a decline in international oil traffic through the critical Strait of Hormuz and has driven an escalating diesel fuel crisis in the United States.
Bennett, meanwhile, condemned the war’s impact on middle-class pocketbooks and urged congressional oversight of tariff policy. In calling for an end to the conflict during the debate, she cited its impacts on the U.S. energy market.
“We need to end the war in Iran,” she said. “The reason that we are seeing this increase in our gas prices is because of this unnecessary war.”
Bennett also hit Kean on his support of Trump’s tariffs, calling for congressional oversight.
Kean argued that the president had the prerogative over the issue.
Both parties are pouring millions into the fight for the 7th Congressional District.
A super PAC tied to Trump has indicated it will spend more than $3 million in the race. Another political action committee tied to Democrats has appropriated around $2.5 million to the broader New York media market to help Bennett and a New York Democratic candidate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
